- At Marion Hyundai. They’re very professional. #
- No waiting room. Just sitting outside on the ground. #
- Had an appointment for a week, but walk-ins are going before me. Kinda miffed over that. #
- Even a bench would be nice. #
- Apparently, there IS a waiting area that no one mentioned or pointed out. #
- Car is still sitting outside an hour after my ‘appointment’. Am I asking for too much expecting service near that time? #
- Still not even inside a bay two hours after my appointment. No word from anyone either. #
- Shoulda brought my laptop. They have wireless, and I bet it isn’t protected. Coulda at least surfed the net. #
- Three. Damn. Hours. Still hasn’t moved. #
- Leaving Marion. Pretty ticked. #
Archive: July, 2007
Last night I installed a new plugin that is supposed to track visitors, search engine hits, search engine spiders, and lots of other useless information that’s only of interest to me probably.
Well, I just checked it and it shows some cool information (it’s cool to me anyway).
To begin, somebody else is searching for me. My name anyway. I know, there are other people with the same name, but it’s just weird to see another search for “me”.
Search engines seem to like me, especially Yahoo. They hit my site 81 times over the course of today. Google was right behind, and MSN brought up the rear. The good news for me is that I am the top result on all of the engines. In real-world terms it doesn’t mean much, but personally I enjoy it.
Another stat that I find cool is that I do have ~140 unique visitors. That confirms the information I was getting from the server at my hosting provider. I enjoyed thinking that there were so many people reading the junk I put on here, but I was never fully trusting. Now, I have verification.
Generally, though, my totals for any one month keep maxing out at about 2100 unique visitors. If everyone gave $1/month, I could do this for a living and probably get more and better content. I had never thought about it like that, but the math is there. Think about it, loyal readers.
😉
Unfortunately, 90% of you are using Windows while viewing my site. I don’t hate Windows, but I do think people should check out the alternatives. Heck, even try a Mac if it turns your crank. Just don’t give up the freedom of choice to Microsoft and Billy Gates.
Some of you may have noticed posts titled “Dan’s Twitter Updates for xxxxx”. Those are short little updates done from my phone via text message. Twitter is a nifty website/service where people and their friends can send one text to Twitter and have it go to everyone who subscribes to their updates. It’s convenient because you can know what your friends are doing and they can know what you’re up to lately. It was really designed for interesting people and club-types, but it’s useful.
Finally, I would like to plead with you loyal readers to subscribe to my RSS feed however is convenient for you. For all of you there is the benefit of it automatically pulling down the feed so you don’t have to come to my site, and it helps me show that people are regularly reading my material. Plus, when you use an RSS reader you can subscribe to a whole bunch of feeds and categorize them so you can track every one without having to go to each site to check for new stories or articles.
In today’s Mount Vernon Sentinel, my advertisement for a startup PC service business begins running. Granted, it is a soft start, but I don’t want to dive in headfirst and hit concrete.
There are multiple repair/installation shops in town and all are doing well. As a matter of fact, a couple are expanding. In my favor – I have no overhead, I am my own boss, hours are what I make them, I will be much cheaper than any of the other shops currently in operation, I don’t treat people like idiots when they ask PC questions.
Hopefully I will at least be able to help a few clients secure their PC’s and perhaps clean them or help them stay clean of malicious code.
Please pray for my endeavor and hope my phone blows up with phone calls.
Oh, customers@danvoyles.us if you want to refer anyone.
🙂
- Updating software and awaiting calls for my “hopeful” PC service business. #
As part of the assistance from the great state of Illinois, since I am a “dislocated worker” (read: downsized) I have the option of going to school free of charge for any number of certificates or degrees. My choices are somewhat limited.
I can only receive schooling to qualify me for a position making up to 80% of my previous wage. Simply put, if I went into the nursing program at Rend Lake College, my courses would only be covered up to “Licensed Practical Nurse. Since LPN’s make more than 80% of what I was making at First Cellular/Alltel.
My first ambition was to go back and get an IT Specialist degree or perhaps a networking certificate. Unfortunately, the few positions arount here that would call for that expertise are locked-in by guys who know how good they have it. I mean, if I fell in to one of those positions, I sure wouldn’t give it up.
Then came the nursing consideration. It is a growing field that pays very well. However, and LPN (to my knowledge) generally gets stuck with the most horrible of jobs that the RN’s don’t want to do. I do have a bit of experience with IV’s, drawing blood, and injections. Realistically though, RN is a 2 year program, and I don’t know that we could make it on (mostly) just Em’s income for that long. Not to mention that I would have to pay for the final year to complete the RN portion.
I jokingly looked at cosmetology, but I don’t really have an interest in cutting, styling, frosting, perming, dying, or anything-elsing hair. Oh, and then there is even waxing eyebrows, YAY! Seriously, I do have a lot of respect for those who get cosmetology licenses. There is a lot of lab-time (practice) required, they have to learn all about chemicals, how to apply them, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can’t begin to understand.
Then, I came across Massage Therapist. For some reason, it doesn’t sound too bad to me. I don’t mind touching people. I enjoy listening to others. I have a decent knowledge of the human body from Biology I and II and my EMT courses. I could work at a spa or freelance. Emily gets my services for free. The only drawback I have in mind is if there is any demand around here for a masseuse. I know that the massage therapist can also work for rehabilitation, orothopaedic, and sports services, but is the demand really there? That is the only thing holding me back from enrollment.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll set up an appointment with the instructor and see what he/she has to say.
Yeah, I know, what am I thinking?
